This invention relates to a light-sensitive photographic material, particularly to a light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material.
In recent years, it has been particularly desired for enhancement of image quality to improve sensitivity, graininess, sharpness and color reproducibility of a light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material (hereinafter sometimes written as color light-sensitive material).
However, if the sizes of silver halide grains are made greater for making sensitivity higher, graininess will be worsened. Besides, if the amounts of coupler and silver halide are increased for elevation of sensitivity, the film thickness of the emulsion layer will consequently be increased, whereby sharpness is lowered.
Accordingly, it is generally difficult to satisfy both the demand for making sensitivity higher and the demand for graininess and sharpness, and the prior art techniques have failed to improve fully the image quality by way of changing the manner in which the basic constituent materials of color light-sensitive material such as coupler and silver halide are used.
On the other hand, as a means for improving graininess and sharpness, it has been known to use a diffusible DI releasing coupler capable of releasing a diffusible development inhibitor (hereinafter called diffusible DIR coupler) as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 131934/1984, etc. However, as can be seen from the prior art, only use of a diffusible DIR coupler in combination with the so called protect type coupler dispersed as oil droplets involves the following problem, although sharpness may be improved to some extent. That is, since the development inhibiting substance diffused from the layer containing a diffusible DIR coupler into other layers with different color sensitivities inhibits excessively development in other layers, disadvantages in aspect of color reproduction become increased such as marked loss of color balance of the image particularly when the other layers are adjacent low density layers. This is because of excessive occurrence of development called as inter image effect, and it has been desired to suppress such an inter image effect.